AI for North Carolina

AI-Powered Lab Discovers Brighter Lead-Free Nanomaterials in 12 Hours

A new autonomous laboratory navigated through billions of potential material synthesis recipes to identify brighter, lead-free light-emitting nanomaterials in just 12 hours.

AI Meets Agriculture:
Smarter Sorting for Sweetpotatoes

NC State researchers are taking the guesswork out of agriculture with AI — and their target is the humble sweetpotato, North Carolina’s nation-leading crop.

NC State To Lead National Effort To Accelerate Chemistry, Materials Research

North Carolina State University has been awarded a four-year, $20 million award from the National Science Foundation to leverage advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous labs to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery in chemistry and materials science.

New Tool Uses AI to Help Undergraduates Think Critically About Research

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed and demonstrated a step-by-step framework called Socratic Challenger that uses artificial intelligence to help undergraduate students cultivate critical thinking skills.

NC State to Lead Three Department of Energy Genesis Mission Projects

The U.S. Department of Energy has named North Carolina State University to lead three Genesis Mission projects aimed at using artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite discovery in the fields of high-performance computing, cybersecurity and astrophysics.

Building Smarter: How NC State’s Kevin Han Uses AI to Revolutionize Construction

Kevin Han, associate professor and Edward I. Weisiger Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering is investigating AI tools to clear construction hurdles.

Water Wise: How AI Could Safeguard Water Quality

Yara Yingling has a message for North Carolinians: AI could help safeguard the state’s water.
As Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor and a materials science expert at NC State, Yingling uses AI to address one of North Carolina’s most pressing environmental challenges — safeguarding groundwater quality.

Helen Huang: The Woman Pioneering Bionic Innovation

For the more than 2 million Americans living with limb loss, walking can be one of life’s hardest challenges. That’s where Jackson Family Distinguished Professor He (Helen) Huang comes in. A leading biomedical engineer, Huang is using artificial intelligence to transform robotic prosthetics into seamless extensions of the human body.

Making the Most of Multifunctional Materials

In NC State’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, researchers are pushing the limits of advanced ceramic materials. The fundamental research has received early-stage support for its potential national defense and security applications — but historically, many military technologies have led to revolutionary civilian products.

NC State’s Product Innovation Lab Showcase Highlights AI, Safety Tech and Smarter Design

NC State’s Product Innovation Lab Showcase highlights how MBA and engineering students collaborate to create AI-enabled, safety-focused, and market-ready innovations.

NC State Researchers Land NSF Grant to Develop AI Tools for Workforce Empowerment

Supported by a $980,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), NC State University researchers will develop new artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help job seekers and employers manage a rapidly changing labor market.

Using AI and Advanced Sensors To Transform Feed Production

Healthy, affordable feed is key to the vitality of North Carolina’s $14 billion livestock and poultry production industry. At NC State University, researchers have embarked on a new project designed to help feed mills lower costs while optimizing nutrition.

N.C. PSI Advances AI for Agriculture

With new tools and new projects, researchers with the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative will help producers put artificial intelligence for increased agricultural yields, efficiency and sustainability.

New Method Improves Efficiency of ‘Vision Transformer’ AI Systems

Vision transformers (ViTs) are powerful artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that can identify or categorize objects in images – however, there are significant challenges related to both computing power requirements and decision-making transparency. Researchers have now developed a new methodology that addresses both challenges, while also improving the ViT’s ability to identify, classify and segment objects in images.

New Technique Improves AI Ability to Map 3D Space With 2D Cameras

Researchers have developed a technique that allows artificial intelligence (AI) programs to better map three-dimensional spaces using two-dimensional images captured by multiple cameras. Because the technique works effectively with limited computational resources, it holds promise for improving the navigation of autonomous vehicles.

WormScanAI: Machine Learning Aging Analysis

This project integrates deep-learning approaches with high-throughput, high-content images in the model organism C. elegans, also known as worms. The outcomes of the project will allow for the identification of neuronal defects and the in-depth analysis of features that can reveal mechanisms that lead to diverse structural changes, such as the drivers of neurodegeneration in different contexts.

New Technique Helps AI Tell When Humans Are Lying

Researchers have developed a new training tool to help artificial intelligence (AI) programs better account for the fact that humans don’t always tell the truth when providing personal information. The new tool was developed for use in contexts when humans have an economic incentive to lie, such as applying for a mortgage or trying to lower their insurance premiums.

AI-Driven Lab Speeds Catalysis Research

Researchers have developed a “self-driving” lab that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and automated systems to provide in-depth analyses of catalytic reactions used in chemical research and manufacturing. The new tool, called Fast-Cat, can provide more information in five days than is possible in six months of conventional testing.

NC State Engineering and Red Hat Partner on AI Governance and Safety

The College of Engineering at North Carolina State University has joined Red Hat in a collaborative partnership to increase AI clarity, compliance and innovation.

AI-Powered Tool Helps Computer Architects Boost Processor Performance

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new AI-assisted tool that helps computer architects boost processor performance by improving memory management. The tool, called CacheMind, is the first computer architecture simulator capable of answering arbitrary, interactive questions about complex hardware-software interactions.

Design Authorship in the AI Age

In the design field, the use of AI poses critical questions: who claims ownership of AI-assisted design — and how does that impact the way we educate the next generation of designers?

Researchers Unveil First-Ever Defense Against Cryptanalytic Attacks on AI

Security researchers have developed the first functional defense mechanism capable of protecting against “cryptanalytic” attacks used to “steal” the model parameters that define how an AI system works.

Exploring Deep Learning AI for Cancer Treatment

Winners of a pilot grant, researchers are exploring how an AI neural network can match medication to patients’ DNA — a precision medicine approach for a future of harnessing data for personalized and cost-effective cancer care.

New Method Forecasts Computation, Energy Costs for Sustainable AI Models

The process of updating deep learning/AI models when they face new tasks or must accommodate changes in data can have significant costs in terms of computational resources and energy consumption. Researchers have developed a novel method that predicts those costs, allowing users to make informed decisions about when to update AI models to improve AI sustainability.

New Technique Could Help Self-Driving Cars See Their Surroundings Better

Thanks to a technique developed by researchers at NC State University, autonomous vehicles might one day be able to navigate the roadways much better. The technique allows artificial intelligence programs to more accurately map three-dimensional spaces using two-dimensional images.

Researchers Help AI Express Uncertainty to Improve Health Monitoring Tech

A team of engineering and health researchers has developed a tool that improves the ability of electronic devices to detect when a human patient is coughing, which has applications in health monitoring. The new tool relies on an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that helps the AI better identify uncertainty when faced with unexpected data in real-world situations.

Researchers Use Geospatial Analytics and AI to Develop Global Food Security Solutions

Climate change is forcing food producers to alter their processes in order to adapt to increasingly unpredictable and dangerous weather. Small farmers are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as they often lack the resources needed to pivot their crops and growing techniques. At NC State, researchers are integrating AI into geospatial technology to help solve these complex challenges to global food security and poverty.

Machine Learning Predicts Efficiency of Micropollutant Removal

Scientists at the NIEHS-funded North Carolina State University Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center created machine learning models that can help predict how well granular activated carbon (GAC) can clean up contaminated water.

A Laboratory of Wonder and Care: Exploring the Future of Ceramic 3D Printing

The Digital Clay Lab at NC State’s College of Design began with a simple question: What happens when one of humanity’s oldest building materials meets some of its newest technologies?

The AI-Powered Arabic Manuscript Archive

Fihris revolutionizes the Arabic archive as we know it. It renders previously inaccessible documents immediately accessible from anywhere in the world by not only hosting manuscript images but also transcribing them into digital text, summarizing them, and translating them from Arabic.

Hallucinating Futures: Confabulation as Critical Method in Generative AI

This research and media art project explores AI “hallucinations”— the strange or glitchy outputs of generative models — as creative and critical tools to examine how artificial intelligence shapes our cultural imagination, knowledge systems and visions of the future.

AI Use Across Industries: Communication in the Workplace

The Professional Writing (PW) program has conducted a Communication in the Workplace (CIW) study every five years, engaging students and faculty in a collaborative effort to collect comprehensive data of professionals’ communication practices. The last study, conducted in 2021 (Pigg et al., 2022), predated the recent popularity and rapid adoption of Generative AI.

NC State Graduate Student Brings Leonardo da Vinci to Life Through AI

For Leo Li, a graduate student in the Media Arts, Design and Technology (MADTech) program at NC State’s College of Design, the path from computer science to cutting-edge design was anything but predictable. Originally from Liuzhou, in China’s Guangxi Province, Leo began his undergraduate studies in computer science at NC State. But a course in visual narrative opened his eyes to a more creative future—one that blends design, storytelling, and emerging technology.

Explore our impact

AI-Powered Lab Discovers Brighter Lead-Free Nanomaterials in 12 Hours

AI Meets Agriculture:
Smarter Sorting for Sweetpotatoes

NC State To Lead National Effort To Accelerate Chemistry, Materials Research

New Tool Uses AI to Help Undergraduates Think Critically About Research

NC State to Lead Three Department of Energy Genesis Mission Projects

Building Smarter: How NC State’s Kevin Han Uses AI to Revolutionize Construction

Water Wise: How AI Could Safeguard Water Quality

Helen Huang: The Woman Pioneering Bionic Innovation

Making the Most of Multifunctional Materials

NC State’s Product Innovation Lab Showcase Highlights AI, Safety Tech and Smarter Design

NC State Researchers Land NSF Grant to Develop AI Tools for Workforce Empowerment